The line-up also includes 160 short films, with 77 countries represented across short films and features.

During the 12-day Festival, LFF brings you Galas, Special Presentations, Competitive sections and an events programme with some of the world’s most inspiring creative leaders. Their strands (Love, Debate, Laugh, Dare, Thrill, Cult, Journey, Create, Experimenta, Family, and Treasures) are back, providing you with pathways to navigate the extensive programme of the world’s best new films.

The films TBB are particularly excited to see on the British Black talent would be Widows – directed by Oscar winning Steve McQueen and starring Cynthia Erivo and Daniel Kaluuya. Then Been So Long the stage play adapted for the big screen into a hip hop r&p musical starring Michaela Coel and Arinze Kene, and co-produced by Nadine Marsh Edwards of Greenacre Productions.

The short film strands feature a range of British Black shorts in the London Calling strand including Jenn Nkiru’s Rebirth is Necessary and Koby Adom’s haircut. *side thought – though the shorts strands are heaving with British Black and Brown diversity, the main feature programme is still not as strong.

In debt because of their dead husbands’ criminal activities, four women take fate into their own hands and conspire to build a future on their own terms. Starring Viola Davis, Cynthia Erivo, Daniel Kaluuya, Brian Tyree Henry, Gina Rodriquez Liam Neeson.

Tickets for the Opening Night Gala screening on Wed 10 Oct 19:45 at Embankment Garden Cinema are subject to a BFI Members’ ballot to ensure the fairest allocation of tickets.

Tickets on sale from 13th September 2018 from 10am; find out more book here

SORRY TO BOTHER YOU – is a 2018 American absurdist dark comedy film written and directed by Boots Riley, in his directorial debut.

In an alternate reality of present-day Oakland, Calif., telemarketer Cassius Green finds himself in a macabre universe after he discovers a magical key that leads to material glory. As Green’s career begins to take off, his friends and co-workers organize a protest against corporate oppression. Cassius soon falls under the spell of Steve Lift, a cocaine-snorting CEO who offers him a salary beyond his wildest dreams.

BEEN SO LONG – London-based writer-director Tinge Krishnan returns to LFF with her ambitious second feature. Adapted from Ché Walker’s stage play and retaining Arthur Darvill’s original songs, Been So Long is a contemporary musical set on the streets of Camden Town. BAFTA® winner Michaela Coel is single mum Simone whose encounter with secretive lothario Raymond (Arinzé Kene – who is reprising his role from the Young Vic stage production), has her head spinning. Been So Long stars a wide range of homegrown talent including Ronke Adekoluejo (NW) who plays Simone, Yvonne’s best friend.
Manish Agarwal

Tickets on sale from 13th September 2018 from 10am; find out more book here.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION – Special £5 tickets for 25 & under are bookable in advance. Find out more!

THE HATE U GIVE – is adapted from Angie Thomas’ YA novel of the same name. Starr Carter is constantly switching between two worlds — the poor, mostly black neighbourhood where she lives and the wealthy, mostly white prep school that she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is soon shattered when she witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend at the hands of a police officer. Facing pressure from all sides of the community, Starr must find her voice and decide to stand up for what’s right.

Tickets on sale from 13th September 2018 from 10am; find out more book here

IN FABRIC – is a haunting ghost story set against the backdrop of a busy winter sales period in a department store, following the life of a cursed dress as it passes from person to person, with devastating consequences.

Legendary British Black actress Marianne Jean-Baptiste plays Sheila a bank clerk who’s trying her hand at dating again. Things start to go a bit kooky when she takes a trip to Dentley & Soper’s Trusted Department Store for something to wear on a upcoming date.

Nigerian Joy earns money through sex work, with most of her earnings going to her ‘Madame’. She lives in a dorm with other women who are on similar ‘contracts’; none are allowed passports until they pay the debt of their illegal passage to Austria. The women’s families in Nigeria live under constant threat of bad juju if the women do not behave – a threat each of them takes extremely seriously. Despite having hired another woman to care for her own child, Joy has almost paid off her freedom when she is asked to supervise Precious, a much younger new recruit who is causing the Madame problems. Director Mortezai brings a meticulous eye to this urgent situation hidden in plain sight – LFF

Tickets on sale from 13th September 2018 from 10am; find out more book here

WHAT YOU GONNA DO WHEN THE WORLD’S ON FIRE? (documentary) – Thought-provoking and all-too-relevant, Roberto Minervini’s documentary paints a portrait of a Louisiana community in the aftermath of a police shooting.

In 2016, unarmed 37-year-old African-American Alton Sterling was shot and killed by Baton Rouge police officers. His death sparked public outrage and resulted in mass protests, both in his home town and across the US, and added yet another name to the Black Lives Matter campaign. Minervini, a US-based Italian director (whose Stop the Pounding Heart played in LFF 2013), employs his unique and affecting style of documentary to depict the real stories of various members of Baton Rouge’s black community in the wake of the shooting. Shot in crisp black and white, the film gives voice to the community, with both young and old taking part. It reveals, with great empathy, an economically disadvantaged, socially disenfranchised group as they fight for recognition, dignity and respect – LFF

Tickets on sale from 13th September 2018 from 10am; find out more book here.

IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK – is Oscar Winning Director/Screenwriter Barry Jenkins’ follow up to Moonlight. Adapted from James Baldwins classic novel of the same name, the film deals with racism, injustice and love in 70s Harlem.

Tish (KiKi Layne) and Fonny (Stephan James) have known each other since childhood, and are in love. Their lives are overturned when Fonny is falsely accused of a rape and an unjust judicial system refuses to acknowledge the impossibility of his having committed the crime. Tish and her family struggle to exonerate him. This is only the second time a book by Baldwin has been adapted for the screen (Robert Guédiguian directed a Marseille-set version of this story in 1998).

Tickets on sale from 13th September 2018 from 10am; find out more book here.

AMIN – Philippe Faucon’s understated drama is a subtle and tender evocation of a friendship that develops between a lonely Senegalese immigrant and a French divorcée.

Amin (Moustapha Mbengue) works as a hired hand for a building company based in a Paris suburb. He lives in a hostel that he shares with other African immigrants, missing home and his wife and three children. Then he encounters Gabrielle (Emmanuelle Devos), a middle-aged French divorcée whose house Amin has been hired to renovate. As time passes, an intimacy develops between the two and they gradually open up about their lives – LFF

Tickets on sale from 13th September 2018 from 10am; find out more book here.

ANGELO – The powerful story of Angelo SolimFan, a forced Europeanised African who makes his way through Viennese society in the early 18th century without ever belonging.

As an exotic gem with a courtly education, Angelo was deprived of his homeland at the age of five or six. Inspired by the few remaining records of the life of the Viennese ‘court Moor’, Markus Schleinzer creates a moving tale about homeland, identity, conformity and the nature of belonging – LFF

Tickets on sale from 13th September 2018 from 10am; find out more book here.

SUPPORT THE GIRLS – Starring Regina Hall (Girls Trip) as Lisa, the general manager of Double Whammies, a sports bar that features skimpily dressed waitresses. Support The Girls is a story about solidarity and the minefield of gender and racial politics. Always nurturing and protective of her staff, she soon faces one trying day that tests her optimism at every tur

Tickets on sale from 13th September 2018 from 10am; find out more book here.

Tickets on sale from 13th September 2018 from 10am; find out more book here.

AKASHA – With his striking, gently comedic debut, set amidst an endless war in his beloved country, hajooj kuka announces himself as one of Sudan’s most unique cinematic voices.

Adnan is a revolutionary soldier has an intense affection for his AK47 gun which he calls Nancy. His long-suffering girlfriend Lina has to fight for Adnan’s attention. When Adnan is called to duty and mistakenly leaves ‘nancy’ in Lina’s bedroom. Upon realising what he’s done Adnan plots to get his gun back from his girlfriend!

Tickets on sale from 13th September 2018 from 10am; find out more book here.

MADELINE’S MADELINE – The third feature from acclaimed director Josephine Decker is a jazz-infused fever dream that tackles head-first the thorny themes of cultural production and appropriation.

Madeline has become an integral part of a prestigious physical theater troupe. When the workshop’s ambitious director pushes the teenager to weave her rich interior world and troubled history with her mother into their collective art, the lines between performance and reality begin to blur. The resulting battle between imagination and appropriation rips out of the rehearsal space and goes through all three women’s lives.

When America’s last standing roller rinks are threatened with closure, a community of thousands battle in a racially charged environment to save an underground subculture– one that has remained undiscovered by the mainstream for generations, yet has given rise to some of the world’s greatest musical talent.

Tickets on sale from 13th September 2018 from 10am; find out more book here.

ETANGS NOIRS – Jimi, a young man living in the Brussels’ Neighborhood Model, tries to pass to a local woman that has been delivered to his apartment by mistake. When Jimi can not find her, finding her becomes an obsession.

Tickets on sale from 13th September 2018 from 10am; find out more book here.

MAKI’LA– Nineteen-year-old Maki’la, nicknamed Maki, has been living on the streets since she was 13, and has long been friends with young hoodlum Mbingazor, who has become the boss of a criminal gang. The two end up getting married; however, the relationship is founded on exploitation and violence and soon leaves Maki feeling trapped. She manages to escape and goes into hiding, when she meets Acha, a 12-year-old who has recently wound up on the streets herself after losing her parents. Soon the two forge a close bond, though Mbingazor, angrier than ever, is close behind. Machérie Ekwa Bahango’s directorial debut is a compassionate and acutely observed portrait of homelessness experienced by young people in Kinshasa.

Tickets on sale from 13th September 2018 from 10am; find out more book here.

MIRIAM LIES / MIRIAM MIENTE – A quinceañera celebration is nothing but nerve-racking for teenage Miriam, in this nuanced film that tackles race and class tensions in the Dominican Republic.

Shy girl Miriam is waiting to celebrate her 15th birthday and she wants to invite her guy. So far they’ve only chatted online, and the anticipated blind date only complicates things. A gentle picture about the uncertainties of growing up, girls’ competitiveness, and the demands of others, which can all be confusing when you’re young.

Tickets on sale from 13th September 2018 from 10am; find out more book here.

MR. SOUL!– Right on the heels of the Civil Rights Movement, one fearless black pioneer reconceived a Harlem Renaissance for a new era, ushering giants and rising stars of black American culture onto the national television stage.

He was hip. He was smart. He was innovative, political and gay. In his personal fight for social equality, this man ensured the Revolution would be televised. The man was Ellis Haizlip. The Revolution was SOUL! Haizlip was the host and executive producer of SOUL!, the first “black Tonight Show.” In 1968, SOUL! was launched as a local, New York broadcast. In 1969 the series rolled out nationwide. By 1973, Haizlip had produced over 130 hour-long shows featuring a dazzling array of A-list guests: Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte, James Baldwin, Stevie Wonder, Maya Angelou, Ashford and Simpson, Nikki Giovanni, Al Green and Muhammad Ali — even a sixteen-year-old Arsenio Hall doing magic tricks.

Mr. SOUL! invites us behind-the-scenes of this groundbreaking phenomenon, from its initial conception to its final broadcast, including the very public battle to keep it on the air despite a shifting political landscape.

Tickets on sale from 13th September 2018 from 10am; find out more book here.

RUDEBOY: THE STORY OF TROJAN RECORDS – is a film about the origins and ongoing love affair between Jamaican and British Youth culture. A film that explores the power of music to break down cultural barriers and change lives and the eventual birth of a modern multicultural society – all told through the prism of one the most iconic record labels in history, Trojan Records. Combining archive footage, freshly shot interviews and drama – Rudeboy tells the story of Trojan Records by placing it at the heart of a cultural revolution that unfolded in the council estates and shanty towns of the late 60’s and 70’s.

Tickets on sale from 13th September 2018 from 10am; find out more book here.

VS. – A troubled foster kid uses his scathing word skills to become an unlikely rap battle champion in Southend. But when he doorsteps his biological mother after ten years in care, he is forced to face his toughest opponent yet: his past. ‘8 Mile’ meets ‘Boy A’, ‘VS.’ is a rites of passage drama set in the UK rap battling scene. Starring Joivan Wade, Fola Evans-Akingbola, Nicholas Pinnock and Paigey Cakey.

Tickets on sale from 13th September 2018 from 10am; find out more book here.

DILILI À PARIS– With the help of her delivery-boy friend, Dilili, a young Kanak, investigates a spate of mysterious kidnappings of young girls that is plaguing Belle Epoque Paris. In the course of her investigation, she encounters a series of extraordinary characters, each of whom provides her with clues that will help her in her quest… After Kirikou and Azur & Asmar, Michel Ocelot returns with an enchanting new tale of brave young heroes, mysteries and discoveries, kidnappings and ordeals, extraordinary places and magical encounters, in which good must challenge dark forces and triumph.

Tickets on sale from 13th September 2018 from 10am; find out more book here.

JIM BUTTON AND LUKE THE ENGINE DRIVER – Once upon a time there was a tiny island called Morrowland with not much on it except two mountains and four inhabitants. They lived in peace until one day the mailman brought a package containing a lovable, dark-skinned baby from parts unknown. The Morrowlanders took the orphan in and named him Jim.
When Jim turns 10, he discovers he’s not from here. But then – who is he, and where is he from?

When his best friend Luke the Engine Driver has to leave the island, Jim can‘t bring himself to let his buddy go. Against Luke‘s initial resistance, he decides to tag along, hoping to find the truth about his origins. They travel to the land of Mandala, where they are shocked to find out the Emperor’s daughter, beautiful Princess Li Si, has been kidnapped by pirates! Luke and Jim vow to rescue the princess, who is being held captive in distant and dangerous Dragon City, somewhere behind the Thousand Wonder Wood and the Land of a Thousand Volcanoes. Together, Luke and Jim embark on the greatest adventure of their lives…

SCREENING DATES: Saturday 20 October 2018 12:45 @ BFI Southbank, NFT2

Tickets on sale from 13th September 2018 from 10am; find out more book here

TWENTY-TWO HOURS – Bouchra Khalili’s film installations move between cinema and performance in the ways thatnotions of embodiment, language, and history are staged, always using non-actors whose bodies and histories are embedded in
the narrative. The work centers on discourses of resistance andsolidarity, rooted in decisive political moments in the postwar history of North Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and the United States. Her most recent film, Twenty-Two Hours, narrates Jean Genet’s famous 1970 visit to the United States at the invitation of the Black Panther Party

SCREENING DATES: Tuesday 16 October 2018 21:00 @ ICA Cinema,

Tickets on sale from 13th September 2018 from 10am; find out more book here

Check out TBB’s BFI London Film Festival 2018 short film programme here.